Ch 55
6.
[The Devils win by 13 points against the Angels!]
[Children’s Day series, Devils laugh out loud!]
[The Devils aim for a series sweep as it is!]
As with all things, after the match between the Angels and the Devils, the online world was filled with only the stories of the Devils.
There was no consolation or sympathy towards the loser, only the praise for the winner.
Of course, nowhere in the world has there been a story about a pitcher who climbed the mound in the early 7th inning and made his debut by pitching without a score.
“Hey, really!”
This was the reason why Jin-yong Lee was angry when he tried to find his article on his smartphone, but couldn’t find it in the end.
“No, but he’s a pitcher who made his debut without a score, how come there isn’t a single article with a picture in it?”
Jin-ho Kim responded bluntly to Jin-yong Lee’s complaint.
– If there was one big downpour there, would it have been treated big? Jinyong Lee, punished for provocative behavior! There is also a large picture of the batter running to the mound and punching you in the face.
“Where have you been?”
– what?
“The original rookie doesn’t get this much attention, is it?”
Rookie doesn’t get attention?
Kim Jin-ho answered the question with an expression that he did not understand English.
– What bullshit? Are you saying you don’t know what kind of interest the person in front of you had when you were a rookie?
“ah.”
At those words, Jinyong Lee remembered.
Kim Jin-ho, when he made his first debut.
His debut was amazing.
The interest of the major leagues is also of interest, but at that time, the level of Korean professional baseball and the major leagues was far away.
Truly heaven and earth.
All the people of Korea were interested in Kim Jin-ho, who made his proud debut in such a major league.
Kim Jin-ho’s debut match appeared on the news of the three airwaves, and the next day, major newspapers poured out articles with large pictures of Kim Jin-ho.
“At that time, Kim Jin-ho was really amazing.”
It was a time when baseball was Kim Jin-ho, and it was around that time that Lee Jin-yong made meeting with Kim Jin-ho his third wish.
– Yeah, I was awesome. huh? Does it sound a bit strange? So not now?
At Kim Jin-ho’s question, Lee Jin-yong looked at Kim Jin-ho slowly and let out a long sigh.
– Hey, what does that sigh mean?
Instead of answering, Jinyong Lee activated roulette right away.
[You have used a silver roulette ticket.]
He used the silver roulette voucher he obtained in exchange for the first successful check.
Then, Kim Jin-ho moved behind Jin-yong Lee.
Then he looked at the revealed silver roulette and said.
– Are you going to aim for that again this time? huh?
With those words, Kim Jin-ho pointed to the one and only platinum-colored square with his finger.
[Quality Increase Elixir (Rank A)]
“Is it possible?”
However, this time, Lee Jin-yong, unlike usual, did not pay attention to the platinum box.
“From now on, I can’t leave fate to fate.”
So far, Jinyong Lee has been lucky.
And he gladly left his fate to the luck that followed.
“Suddenly, one by one, little by little.”
But from now on it wasn’t. Jinyong Lee was determined not to leave his fate to fate any longer.
With that determination, Jinho Kim changed his expression.
– Yeah, that’s it. That’s what I wanted from you.
Kim Jin-ho praised Lee Jin-yong’s determination.
– If you look for too much luck, you will be ruined. everything is like that Stairs and ladders eventually reach the top by climbing one step at a time. Of course, with great luck, you can even make it to the top. But you can’t leave footprints on the way to the top.
Instead of answering those words, Jinyong Lee nodded and turned the roulette wheel.
Those two looked at the roulette wheel with the same eyes and the same feelings for the first time.
Eventually, when the roulette stopped.
[You have acquired the Elixir of Pitch Enhancement (Rank A).]
– yes?
“downpour!”
Jin-ho Kim was surprised, and Jin-yong Lee started dancing like crazy with cheers.
Contrary to what Jinho Kim said a while ago, he said a word to Jinyong Lee, who was so happy.
– hey! why do you like me so much You say you won’t leave fate to fate?
“Who is it?”
– A little while ago, Jinyong, you…
At Jinho Kim’s words, Jinyong Lee said while changing his dance.
“My motto is ‘One shot in life!’ Is it?”
– Oh, really!
“Stairs are crap, if there is an elevator, you have to take the elevator. Whoa! So, what to upgrade this time? four heart? splitter? Slider?”
– do it yourself! From now on I won’t give you any advice! Let the silent protest begin!
In the end, Kim Jin-ho spit out a bomb declaration, and at the bomb declaration, Jin-yong Lee stopped dancing and questioned in amazement.
“Really? Really? Did I say shut up? Oh yeah! You are finally freed from this noisy human, no ghost!”
Jinyong Lee, he was more than happy when he got a platinum grade item.
– Whoa! Whoa!
“downpour! Whoa!”
And Kim Jin-ho trembled at the sight, and Lee Jin-yong made fun of Kim Jin-ho as if he was waiting.
That’s how Jinyong Lee’s first professional day passed.
7.
Saturday, May 6, the second match of the weekend series between the Angels and the Devils.
– Big, big, big!
– Uh, yes.
– It’s gone! The Devils’ 4th hitter Kim Hyung-joo! He hit a three-run homer outrunning the Angels!
As on the 5th of May, the content of this game, which was held at Jamsil Stadium, which was filled with more than 25,000 spectators, was not much different from the game of the previous day.
– 9 to 2! This again widened the score gap between the Devils and the Angels.
– Once the fire is ignited, the Devil’s battalion cannot be easily put out. On the other hand, the Angel’s ship doesn’t catch fire easily. Yesterday and today I am struggling with Binta.
– It’s not that the batting line is weak, but it feels like something is clogged up.
– Yes. It looks like it will explode if you open something.
The Angels’ batters were silent, tied to the Devils’ pitcher, while the Devils’ hitters were hitting the Angels’ pitcher.
– ah! The pitching coach comes on the mound.
– Looks like you’re trying to replace it. It should be replaced.
Eventually, early in the sixth inning, the Angels removed starting pitcher Andy Gonzalez from the mound.
9 runs in 5.2 innings.
A look of tiredness was evident on Andy’s face as he went down the mound after receiving the disastrous report card.
– Even though Andy Gonzalez’s ball wasn’t bad today.
Actually, the game content and flow were similar to yesterday, but Andy’s pitching was completely different from Benjamin’s pitching.
Unlike Benjamin, who showed himself collapsing without being restrained, and not being able to get the structure right, Andy was in good shape, and he knew it himself.
Andy was full of confidence in his ball.
– Yes. Andy Gonzalez’s ball today was at least flawless.
And it was full of confidence.
His four-seam fastball hit 151 kilometers today, and his slider was also sharp.
So no one thought Andy had scored.
– Against Andy Gonzalez, the Devils hitters forcibly ripped out the score.
– The batting line of the Devils is truly terrifying.
It was more appropriate to say that the Devils batters ripped out points against Andy.
In that sense, today’s game was a more disastrous game than the game on Children’s Day, when they lost to the Angels.
“Andy throws like that and it gets ripped off…….”
“The Devils are crazy. Totally crazy.”
“This is a game that has no choice but to lose. No, when you smash a pitcher who throws a 150 ball like that, wouldn’t it be called another pitcher?”
If I made a mistake and lost, there would be room for excuses, but losing even though I did my best was not to allow even room for excuses.
Moreover, the progress of the game itself was not very good for the Angels.
Before Andy gave up a three-run home run a little while ago, the score was 6-2 and 4 points.
Starting at the end of the 6th and ending at the end of the 9th, the difference of 4 points was enough to aim for a comeback when there were 4 attack opportunities left.
So, until then, a part of the winning team, the pursuit team, was warming up in the bullpen.
However, as the score difference suddenly became 7 points, it became more and more ambiguous to send out the pursuit team.
It was a big difference to chase, and it seemed difficult for the pursuit team to lead the game without conceding against the Devils’ well-watered lineup, which even defeated Andy Gonzalez.
What is clear is that the pitcher who will be on the mound after Andy faces the most desperate situation.
“Tttttttt, only that guy has become pitiful.”
So they sympathized.
“As soon as you are called up to the first team, you only go up on the mound in a very hellish situation.”
“Well, what can I do? That’s his fate.”
A pitcher going up the mound that Gonzalez went down.
– Jinyong Lee comes to the mound following Gonzalez. This is the pitcher who made his debut yesterday.
– It seems that the Angels expected today’s game to be difficult.
Jinyong Lee.
He came up on a hellish mound.
8.
[You have acquired 101 points.]
[Currently, the accumulated points are 1,712 points.]
only 1 piece.
Jinyong Lee, who came down the mound holding the last out that Andy couldn’t catch in the beginning of the 6th inning, with only one ball, did not feel any special joy in that fact.
Thistle.
I just silently chewed on my resolve along with the gum.
It was the same with Jinho Kim.
– Now, let’s start. Calm down, be moderately tense, and play at least two innings ahead.
The fact that Jinyong Lee’s role wasn’t just to catch the last out of the 6th inning wasn’t something we had to know because someone had to explain it.
It was because Jinyong Lee’s role was to bleed less by digesting as many innings as possible in a match with a heavy loss.
Jinyong Lee also knew that fact.
‘In a sense, it’s the best stage.’
Of course, Jinyong Lee did not intend to be satisfied with only that.
‘The best stage to show the A-rank splitter.’
Jinyong Lee, he chose the splitter as his second A-rank pitch.
The reason for the choice was simple.
‘From now on, I have to show you how to strike out instead of a ground ball.’
To get a strikeout.
Now, Jin-yong Lee was a pitcher who caught anyone looking. And it had to be.
Aren’t Jinyong Lee’s main pitches, the changeup and the two-seam fastball, the ones that induce the ground ball?
The problem was that the ground ball was not something the pitcher had 100% control over.
In yesterday’s game, Lee Jin-yong induced a ground ball against Jeong Hyun-bin, but dedicated an infield hit to his quick foot.
Even if that’s not the case, the ground ball is inevitably affected by the defensive ability of the infielders and their condition.
For this reason, countless experts have said that the true ability of a pitcher is the ability to strikeout.
What was needed to have such a strikeout ability was a pitch that could induce a vat swing of the batter, and the splitter was one of the balls that could induce a fuss swing best among many pitches that a pitcher could show.
Above all, Jinyong Lee’s rising fastball skill is a skill that strengthens the fastball, not the ball.
In the case of a splitter, the drop is strengthened.
A wise choice in many ways.
Of course, I was fully prepared.
On this hellish stage today, Jinyong Lee was confident to prove his worth unequivocally.
– Are you itchy?
Kim Jin-ho was also reading Lee Jin-yong’s feelings.
– As my older sister says, it’s good to be itchy, but you shouldn’t get drunk on it. If ground balls and floating balls are the result of struggle, strikeouts are the result of hunting. It is a result that can only be achieved with the use of the head.
Therefore, Kim Jin-ho repeatedly gave advice to Lee Jin-yong.
Because he knew better than anyone how important this moment is for Jinyong Lee and how much the game today will have a big impact on Jinyong Lee’s future life as a baseball player.
The two of them sat on the bench with their swollen breasts hidden and watched the Angels attack at the end of the sixth inning.
right!
“Five! Leading hitter on base!”
“Is it your first time to get a lead hitter on base today?”
For those two, the lead hitter on base was not so welcome.
-Ah, if I had to give it a score anyway, 1 or 2 would be all I got, but I’m only going to get cold from attacking for nothing.
After all, it was a game with a lot of loss, and for Lee Jin-yong, the important thing wasn’t the score, it was that his shoulders didn’t cool down.
damn it!
“Five! consecutive hits!”
“Are you going to score?”
Of course, even when consecutive hits occurred, Jinyong Lee did not put much importance on that fact.
With both eyes closed, in my head, I replayed the strategy of the batters I would face in the beginning of the 7th inning.
– Jinyong-ah, would you like me to sing you a song to relax you?
Jin-ho Kim also tried to relieve Lee Jin-yong’s tension by hovering around him.
– Heavy metal is the best way to relax. Don’t just pick a song that’s just awesome. Steelheart’s She’s Gone. Get ready to admire my singing ability that crosses 3 octaves.
Whoa!
“uh? Big? big?”
However, the story of those two had no choice but to be buried in the noise that started shaking the ground.
“It rolls to the fence!”
“Enough to get to second base!”
The Angels scored a follow-up point thanks to three consecutive hits, and at the same time continued to score chances with runners second and third base unharmed.
-········Out of My Lie, what is it? don’t you hit
By that time, Jin-ho Kim and Jin-yong Lee could no longer be in their own world.
Their eyes slowly turned to the ground.
a few minutes after that.
“Walk!”
“Everything is safe!”
The pitcher gave a walk to the fourth batter, and the situation was complete without a hitch, and then the moment when the walk came out against the fifth batter.
“Push-out walk!”
“Nice!”
9-4, the moment when the runners are safe and the base is full.
At that moment, Jinyong Lee and Jinho Kim did not talk about the 7th inning any more.
“How is it going?”
– I understand?
And the moment the sixth batter stood at the plate, tension began to rise not only in the Angels dugout but also in Jamsil Stadium.
“It’s Hong Woo-hyung.”
Hong Woo-hyung.
It was because of the presence of the Angels’ third hitter, the national representative big hitter, which the Angels paid a total of 10 billion won as a free agent.
Such a Hong Woo-hyung willingly proved his worth in the tension.
Whoa!
“Big, big!”
“ah! The fence was hit!”
“Damn, Jamsil Stadium is fucking big!”
Hong Woo-hyung hit a fence to left fielder, and made a bat that would have hit a home run if it wasn’t for Jamsil Stadium, bringing two runners from 2nd and 3rd to home at once.
Hit 2 RBIs!
“Are there going to be big innings? Will you catch up?”
9-6, it was the moment the Angels put the Devils in sight at once.
At that moment, the Angels dugout was busy. The pitching coach quickly picked up the phone and started talking to the bullpen, and manager Bong Joon-sik and the hitting coach started signing autographs without stopping.
“Angels, please go!”
“Let’s do a reversal instead of in chasing angel mode!”
The support of the Angels fans has also intensified.
In the intensity, the Devil’s Bench also moved. The pitching coach came up to the mound.
Seeing this, Jinyong Lee asked Jinho Kim.
“Shall I replace it?”
– Who? Now it’s a three-point difference, and the runners are at first and third bases unharmed? Were there any bullpen pitchers in the Devils you could trust here? Is there any pitcher who has relaxed in the Devils bullpen more than anyone else with this in mind? No matter what pitcher comes up right now, it just feels like being thrown into the battlefield all of a sudden, unprepared? If you believe in a pitcher like that, if you are like me, you believe in a pitcher on the mound.
“It’s a pitcher change!”
However, contrary to Kim Jin-ho’s expectation, the Devils replaced the pitcher.
The bullpen door opened and a new pitcher came up to the mound.
With a frozen expression on her face and half-passed eyes.
The moment he saw it, Jinho Kim said.
– I’ll walk you.
“Yes?”
– Now the pitcher’s mentality was gone before he even threw the ball.
And Kim Jin-ho’s prophecy immediately became a reality.
“Walk!”
As the new bullpen pitcher allowed a walk, the situation unfolded safely again.
Jinyong Lee did not continue to speak in that situation.
Instead, I looked at the batter standing at the plate, the 5th batter Jun-hyung Park, and thought of it at the same time.
“There, Kim Jin-ho.”
– why?
“Who will be the winning pitcher when the game ends as it is after turning over here?”
– Of course…
It was then that I remembered Kim Jin-ho.
“Is that me?”
– Yours?
As Jinyong Lee said, if the Angels succeeded in a comeback at the end of the 6th inning and then win the game without allowing a comeback, the winning pitcher for that game will be Jinyong Lee.
“By the way, did you ever win that savior?”
– Isn’t it?
“Yes? First time?”
– It must be the first time…
And the fact that if he wins like that, Jin-yong Lee will be the first salvation victory.
The moment I realized that fact, it exploded at that moment.
Whoa!
“Ugh!”
“OMG!”
“Haw!”
Junhyung Park, his bat threw the ball out of the spacious Jamsil Stadium outfield and over the fence.
In his first year as a professional, less than a week after joining the first team, it was the moment when the rookie, a former training player, recorded his second home run as a home run from a comeback, and it was so shocking that he forgot that everyone was cheering.
“Whoa!”
Only one.
“Fuck Junhyung Park is the best! Love it!”
– Fuck, does this make sense? Throwing a ball and getting a win is… isn’t this the first reward for being the first win?
Only Lee Jin-yong, who had a chance to throw a ball and win the victory, only cheered.
End